


team

by Hazazel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First years as third years, Fluff, Gen, Gift Fic, they're all friends and i cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25342897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazazel/pseuds/Hazazel
Summary: Today, Ennoshita is gonna help pick the next captain, and Tadashi has been way too chicken to ask the others if they had an idea of who they’d vote for. Hinata is likely to vote for himself, so is Kageyama, Tsukishima will vote for Tadashi - he’d hate the extra responsibility but wouldn’t trust the other two that much (though their bond, strengthened by loss and victory both, has steadily been getting deeper). Tadashi will try and abstain, though he has a feeling Ennoshita won’t let that pass.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yachi Hitoka & Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 20
Kudos: 92
Collections: Fandom Trumps Hate 2020





	team

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoVeryAverageMe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/gifts).



> it's sooo late aaaah sorry !!!!! this was a gift for Zoe !!! i hope y'all like it !!!!

A quiet “Hello” echoes in the gym as Yachi enters. She’s been getting better at managing her anxiety, and it shows in the way she handled the club since Shimizu-san left. Tadashi is proud of her - and wishes he could do the same.

Today, Ennoshita is gonna help pick the next captain and Tadashi has been way too chicken to ask the others if they had an idea of who they’d vote for. Hinata is likely to vote for himself, so is Kageyama, Tsukishima will vote for Tadashi - he’d hate the extra responsibility but wouldn’t trust the other two that much (though their bond, strengthened by loss and victory both, has steadily been getting deeper). Tadashi will try and abstain, though he has a feeling Ennoshita won’t let that pass.

The entire team is wandering about in the gym, the former second years and the new first years alike, and Tadashi has been internally screaming for what seems like an eternity. Finally, finally, Ennoshita asks Kinoshita to manage practice and motions for their little group to follow him outside.

“It’s a big day !” Ennoshita has filled-up around the shoulders, and has gained a confidence that Sawamura-san would be proud of. His smile isn’t nervous or tense, it just comes naturally to his lips like he’s always been the great captain Tadashi knows him as. They’ve grown closer in the year that just passed, bonding over the shared pressure they felt from being in a team of monsters- ahem, strong and talented players. Ennoshita is plain, in a way that’s not meant to be insulting, and it allows him to act as a bedrock for when things get tough. It always helps to be tethered to reality when your internal constitution seems out of whack.

“I wanna vote first !” Hinata almost yells. He’s been jumping up and down so much that a cloud of dust has formed at his feet, and his eyes look so bright that Tadashi’s breath gets stolen away. “We all know who’s gonna win anyways, so let’s finish this quick ! I don’t wanna miss practice.”

“Go ahead,” Ennoshita smiles.

“I vote for Tadashi !”

“Me too.” Kageyama is looking at him intently and Tadashi almost feels flayed alive under such a piercing gaze, like Kageyama is looking past his irises and directly into the inner workings of his brain.

“Yeah, Tada- Yamaguchi was always gonna get it,” Tsukishima adds.

As if those were the last words needed to finish the conversation, Hinata yells “Take good care of us !” while bowing, followed suit by Kageyama.

“We can go back to practice now, right ?” Kageyama mumbles. “Let’s just go.”

Ennoshita shakes his head. “We still need a vice, Kageyama.”

“I vote for the King,” Tsukishima says, surprising everyone, but Kageyama especially.

“What ?” Kageyama looks as if the earth has opened to swallow him whole.

“Yeah, you kinda deserve it,” Hinata pipes in, still jumping up and down excitedly. “I know it’s not gonna be me anyway and Kei would literally rather die, so…”

“I’m not that dramatic !” Tsukishima protests, and the both of them walk towards the gym, elbowing each other with each new quip.

With a chuckle, Ennoshita claps them both on the back, and he follows the others suit. Outside of the gym, the cold March air does nothing to cool Tadashi’s red cheeks, or Kageyama’s for that matter. They just stand motionless, letting the strangeness of the recent events wash over them until they can assimilate what just happened.

“Vice, huh,” Tadashi ends up saying. “Good job, Kageyama.”

“You too,” Kageyama answers absentmindedly. “Vice captain. I don’t even know what they do.”

“Well,” and it’s Tadashi’s turn to chuckle, “Suga-san was an agent of mayhem, and Kinoshita was… Surprisingly more level-headed than Ennoshita, at times. I guess you’ll just have to figure it out.” What Tadashi doesn’t add is that he also has very little idea what his new post entails, and very little time to learn the ropes with Ennoshita before the year is up.

Eventually the two of them walk back to the gym, and practice goes by with surreal normalcy. It seems like it should be different, but Tadashi couldn’t parse why or how. Hinata yells, Tsukishima snorts, Yachi helps with the new players, who aren’t so new anymore. Everything should be like it always was, except now, Tadashi feels this invisible weight settled on his shoulders. 

He wonders if that’s how Kageyama felt with his long-proven-wrong nickname. 

* * *

FROM: shouyou

yo tadashi wanna grab dinner

FROM: you

Uh, sure ? Where ?

FROM: shouyou

oh idk i didn’t think u’d say yes, ur usually busy with hw

FROM: shouyou

oh wait lmao were on holidays

FROM: shouyou

ukai’s place is closed but uuuuuh there’s this new bao shop that also sells onigiri

FROM: you

That sounds good.

FROM: shouyou

neato :D kageyama said he could come, i’ll ask kei and hitoka too

Tadashi smiles. It’ll be good to see the others, which he hasn’t for the whole holidays. It’s strange how their bond works. Sometimes it’s like only volleyball ever matters and they’re not even friends. Most of the time though, it’s Hinata stealing his fries at McDonalds, Kageyama forgetting his English homework until the last minute and spending the night at Tadashi’s place while they look through it, Yachi looking up at him with a towel when he needs it most, and Tsukishima, the ever-present friend, who now allows more than glimpses of his inner world.

He misses them. So bad. He can’t believe it’s their last year together, and that they all placed their trust in him - he doesn’t feel up to it in the least, he doesn’t know what he’ll do if he messes it up.

Hinata is already there when Tadashi arrives, wearing only a T-shirt in spite of the cooling evening air. Tadashi hugs him eagerly - Hinata might be scrawny, but he gives the best hugs - and they settle on the curb to wait for the others. Hinata babbles on and on about Kozume’s latest gaming discovery, about volleyball, about everything and nothing, and it fills Tadashi’s brain with a calm you wouldn’t expect from such a buoyant one-sided conversation.

Yachi arrives next, in a lovely blue dress that suits her way better than the Karasuno uniform, in Tadashi’s humble opinion. She doesn’t sit down in fear of ruining it and he wonders again at the difference between them all. Hinata didn’t even think before sitting down, and Tadashi picked a pair of jeans he wouldn’t mind sitting on the ground in. Kageyama will probably be in track pants, coming back from his nightly jog, and Tsukishima will be in whatever clothes looked the most effortless to pick. Such a simple thing, to get clothed, but it reveals a world of differences between them all.

“How have you guys been ?” Yachi asks, a soft smile gracing her face at Hinata’s excited rambling. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever. Excited for the new volleyball season ?”

“You bet !” Hinata practically shouts. He’s gotten up somehow and is looking his most determined. “I’ll beat Kanji-kun and Tsutomu-kun and Kindaichi and Kunimi and Bakageyama and every single one of them !”

“Oi, dumbass, we’re on the same team ! And I’m gonna beat you !” Kageyama has just arrived and he cuffs Hinata lightly on the back of his head, the two of them immediately starting their usual bickering.

Tsukishima, uncharacteristically, arrives late and out of breath.

“Tsukishima-kun, did you run ?” Yachi asks, a little bewildered. “You look exhausted.”

“Napping,” is all Tsukishima says, hands on his knees and looking like he’s about to pass out. “Akiteru didn’t wake me up.”

“Aw, you little baby, too young to have a phone and set an alarm,” Hinata mocks. “Ack ! Don’t hit me !”

Yachi giggles at their antics. “Come on guys, the night isn’t getting any younger ! We gotta feed those growing muscles.”

As the others start going into the restaurant, Tadashi notices that Kageyama is lagging behind, obviously wanting to talk to him without the others hearing.

“Wanna hang out at my place next ?” Tadashi offers and he smiles when Kageyama nods, looking a bit relieved. 

Dinner goes as planned. Hinata makes a scene in front of the spicy tuna onigiri, Kageyama wolfs down one more meatbun and gets to keep his streak of five victories, Tsukishima eats way too many sweets from the free-to-pick jar, and Yachi tries to school her features into those of a reasonable manager before trying to pay for everyone. It’s cozy, it’s comforting, and Tadashi can’t believe it’s his last year of… whatever _this_ is.

They part ways a little before midnight, Hinata jumping on his bike, Tsukishima heading south to take Yachi home. 

“Still want to come ?”

Kageyama nods, and he follows Tadashi through the alleyways leading to his house. He politely greets Tadashi’s parents and sisters, and they climb the stairs to his room. As Tadashi slowly closes the door, he can see Kageyama’s shoulders visibly sag. 

“What’s going on ?” he says softly. “Is it about…”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe you made me vice.”

“Kageyama-”

“Like,” he furiously continues, “I’m so bad at people. I don’t know how to count-”

“Kageyama-” Tadashi tries to stop him, but it’s useless, and Kageyama rants on.

“What if I mess it up ? What if I let everyone down ? I don’t wanna be a tyrant again !”

“Tobio.” Strangely enough, the use of his given name is what finally calms Kageyama down. “Tobio, sit down.”

Kageyama shuffles awkwardly to the bed and perches himself on the very edge of the mattress, like he’s somehow abusing his rights to hospitality.

“You do know that you’ve changed, right ?” Tadashi patiently waits for an answer, watching Kageyama’s brows furrow deeper and deeper until they look like a very comical monobrow. “You are not a tyrant anymore. And honestly, fuck the Kitadai coach for not… well, coaching you. He clearly let the situation get out of control. Take-chan and Coach Ukai would never let it get that bad. _We_ would never let it get that bad,” he adds, and he knows that Kageyama understands the full power of that “we”.

He’s not alone anymore. He’s not the isolated genius, turned down by his senpai and alienated from his peers, he’s not the lonely kid that wanted to prove to the world that he could make it. He’s so much better, the result of years of growth on a scale that he himself has trouble to understand.

“Yama- Tadashi. Please, promise me. Promise me it won’t.”

“I swear,” Tadashi solemnly answers. “Now off to bed, I know you wake up at dawn to go jogging and I wanna try to tag along.”

They get out the extra futon from Tadashi’s closet, and a pair of pyjamas that must belong to Tsukishima - they’re on the “guest clothes” pile, and the abstract pattern looks suspiciously like dinosaurs.

Kageyama is out like a light. In no time, he’s down and snoring, his chest rising and falling softly, and Tadashi is left alone to ruminate Kageyama’s outburst.

To be perfectly honest, he would probably have picked Hinata as a vice-captain. He gets on really well with the new players and connects with them on a more emotional, perhaps deeper level, than Kageyama does. Kageyama is the control tower on the court, he knows players as teammates first and friends second. 

But then again, Tadashi reasons, Kageyama is close to _them_. He makes so many efforts, he tries so hard, that he deserves to be rewarded. Hinata is on the path to glory, and so should Kageyama be.

As predicted, Kageyama’s phone rings at five thirty, and they groggily wade down the stairs to the kitchen. While Tadashi gets some leftover rice from the fridge into the microwave, Kageyama busies himself with his phone.

“I have a surprise for you,” he says.

“Oh dear.” Tadashi’s laugh morphs into a yawn, and he barely manages to stop the microwave from beeping and waking the whole house up. “What is it ? Do we run to Hinata’s house ?”

Kageyama looks so sheepish at those words that Tadashi laughs for good. “Oh dear, oh dear !”

“Tsukishima is joining us. We’ve been jogging together these past few days.” Kageyama can’t help but smile, like it’s a secret he’s glad to get out in the open.

“Tsukki jogs ?” Tadashi jokes, but the thought makes warmth radiate from his heart. Tsukishima is having fun. Hinata and Kageyama were of course having fun. And it’s about time he does too, now that he thinks of it.

The run is quiet, all three of them saving their breath for the long trip across the mountains. They’re joined halfway through by Hinata, who jogs the rest of the way back with them, and they arrive relatively early considering the distance they had to cross. Hinata’s mother and sister greet them with pancakes, and Tadashi would now officially die for them. There’s something so comforting about snuffing out an entire plate of pancakes with strawberries and rice syrup, that they don’t talk for the entire meal.

“Ah,” Hinata ends up saying, reclining dangerously on his chair. “It’s so good to have you all here.”

“Yeah,” Tadashi sighs, belly contentedly full. “We should do this more often.”

“And invite Yachi next time,” Tsukishima adds. He pouts at the incredulous look Hinata sends him. “What ? We’re a team. Don’t make me repeat that.”

“Kei !” Hinata all but wails. “And Tadashi and Tobio ! I love you guys so much !”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kageyama’s smile is tiny, still kinda creepy, and a little rogue-ish, but definitely there.

They’re a team.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated !


End file.
